Improve your resume today: Play up what you want

Lillian* has worked in IT for ten years, most recently managing a team. As her next step, she’d like to step away from management and return to the role of an individual contributor. Her resume starts something like this:

Results oriented IT manager…

Hold up.

Besides my feelings on the use of the words “results oriented,” Lillian has made one major error — in the first four words of her resume, she’s labeled herself something she no longer wants to be.

IT management is a great skill to have, but if she doesn’t want it to be her focus anymore, it doesn’t belong as the focus of her resume.

Your resume is your answer to the question, “What are you good at?” So, if you’re saying that you’re good at finance, people will want to hire you for finance, not event planning. To get hired for event planning, tell me how you’re good at that.

Ask yourself, what do I want people to hire me for? Which of my skills do I want to use? Then, target your resume to the employer you’re approaching, but also the areas of your expertise that are most appropriate for the next step in your career.

How do you position yourself for your next career step?

photo credit: David Reece

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